Just for a little while longer, and then she will never have to yearn for this life. It will be hers. Everything I own is hers.
11
VIVIANA
Ican’t keep this secret to myself a moment longer or I will implode.
Evie is my best friend, and she deserves to know that for the last two months, I have been meeting her brother every weekend, disregarding common sense. My feelings for Tristan overflow my chest, drowning my heart in love.
Maybe I need her to yell at me, cuss me out, anything to wake me up from the spell and resurrect my self-preservation instincts.
I have opened and closed my mouth repeatedly, but no words came out. The secrecy must end. The longer I keep the secret from her, the guiltier I feel.
Back from my classes, I pace, debating how to tell her.
The moment she walks in, I blurt out. “I’m in love with your brother.”
She freezes on the spot, the click of the door producing the only sound.
Evie is outgoing. Of the two of us, she is the talkative one, but now she stares at me, blinking as if not sure if she heard me right.
Deflated, I drop onto the edge of the bed, my head hanging. “I’m sorry. I should have told you, but I just…”
“My brother?” she whispers, rousing from the shock.
I lift my gaze, offering her a meek smile. “Tristan, yes.”
Silence stretches between us, causing me to hold my breath. Every second she doesn’t speak plucks at my nerves. Bile rises in my throat, coating my taste buds so that I could throw up any second.
“Okay. That was something I never expected.” She shakes her head as if wanting to clear her mind.
She drops onto her bed, and we eye each other, silence falling once again between us as deafening as a hammer hitting glass, splintering into a million pieces.
“I met him that night in New York.”
She slaps a hand over her mouth, a terror-stricken look contorting her face.
“He doesn’t know you were there with me,” I rush to add.
“My brother can’t find out. Swear it. Swear it to me,” she says, eyes round with panic.
“I would never. I promise.”
She gulps, her face getting back some color, and then something akin to sympathy flashes in her eyes. I expected any other reaction but that.
“Oh, Viv. What did you do?”
“I’m sorry,” I say, fidgeting with my fingers in my lap, but something tells me it’s not my apology she’s after. “Then I met him at the beach house and realized he’s your brother. I wanted to tell you, but…”
“Fate, huh?” she shrugs, accepting things that are beyond us with enviable ease.
“Are you mad at me? Please don’t be.” I shut my eyes, not wanting to catch the disappointment in hers.
The mattress dips next to me as she sits down.
She holds my hand, clasping it tightly. “If we were someone else, I would be ecstatic that my best friend is with my brother.”
“So, you’re not mad?” I ask, voice tinged with concern.
